We were taking this walk in the park, a bunch from the library where I worked, and came across the bicycle. There was no sign of anybody. I took the shot, wondering whatever had become of the rider. Well, the shift overcame him. 🙂 He might have been lounging in the tree above us. A jaguar? A cougar? Maybe a wolf hidden in the woods? I never thought to look up!

With the shadows and filtered light in the semi-dark woods and all the vegetation, the bike was hard to see. And seemed so discordant with the wildness of the park to be there all by itself. Not in a way that said its owner had met a tragic end, just sitting there, waiting for its rider to return and take it home. But for the moment, it was enjoying sitting in the park, listening to the birds and watching the butterflies flutter by, and amused at all the hikers taking this path, even me, stopping to take its picture, instead of sitting in the dusty garage watching a black widow weave a web nearby.

I had “lost” this picture and forgotten all about it. But when I found the photo, it reminded me of that day in the park with my friends, the bicycle, and the absent rider, while the bicycle waited so patiently for its rider to return.